by Bob Osgoodby

How much E-mail do you get promising great riches and you have absolutely no clue who sent it? Many of the return E-mail addresses are forged, and you have no possible way to respond to their offer. Sure they may give you a toll free number to call, where you will probably get a highly hyped recording, or you may get a Post Office Box to submit your application and payment. What is missing from this picture?

You are!

The majority of people are pretty cautious. If someone jumped out of a dark alley and offered to sell you a "Rolex" for twenty bucks, you would probably just continue walking. What makes people think the Internet is a like a magic carpet, where all you have to do is make some type of outlandish offer, and people will flock to you with their wallet wide open?

It doesn't work that way folks!

If you expect people to deal with you, they must be able to identify with you or your company. If your company is not well known, they must be able to identify with you.

Remember the old saying - "Sell yourself first". When people are comfortable with you, the rest is easy. But how do I do this "you might ask".

There are a number of ways and the web actually makes it easy. Put a picture of yourself on your web site with a short bio and contact information. If a person knows how to get in touch with you in case of a problem, it makes their purchasing decision a lot easier.

Tell people how you help your customers and the successes they have had. Let them know how they need the benefits of your product or service. This is the kind of information that will build confidence in your customers and prospects.

A lot of people are reticent to give contact information on the web. They're afraid they'll get crank calls, or people will find out where they live. A real concern? I don't think so. There are ways around these types of problems.

I have a second telephone line that gets turned off during non-business hours. Many places in the country don't have home delivery of their mail available, and a PO Box is their actual address. A PO Box is not ideal, but will be acceptable if a telephone number is provided.

Before you try to sell anything on or off the web, remember to sell yourself first.